


Blood and Burning Embers

by irlpatchnotes



Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, It's some nice survivor stuff, M/M, Reader is gender neutral, Still Don't Know How To Use Tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-22 16:14:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17665865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irlpatchnotes/pseuds/irlpatchnotes
Summary: Where are you? How did you end up in such a dangerous and frightening place within what felt like a span of moments? With little to no answers for what happened to you, you meet the Solitary Survivalist, Jake Park, who perhaps can lend a helping hand.





	Blood and Burning Embers

Darkness. The shadows of the night and the burning feeling of embers in a tired, dying flame. It was an unrecognizable place, one that showed it’s dominance in this nightmarish dreamscape of which provided no seeable exit. Knowing exactly where you were was an impossibility, lost within the hopelessness of such an empty existence. A place that showed no emotion but fear, craving to feed off the terrified embodiment of anyone who dared step closer and admire it’s monstrous identity. Such a face of horror draped with evil intentions pulled you close to a sleep-like death, wishing to crush your will to live in an ebony colored hell.

Though, there was something within that nothingness that told you to push forward, knowing you were still strong enough to go on. The pale hue of a spirit, summoning you forth by the call of an unfamiliar, distant melody. Shattered images of what caused joy and belief scattered through this unyielding tunnel of discordance, turning like a kaleidoscope mirror set. Distortion clouded your view with a thick layer of black fog, covering your nose and acting as a makeshift chloroform. Unable to see even your hands, vision swam from your eyes to be replaced with a familiar vacancy, broken only by the sight of something new.

When you had woken up after what felt like ages of sleeping, all you could feel was that your head was heavier than you remembered it being. Lifting it off your shoulders, you waited as your retinas dilated to the new layer of light that provided insight to your surroundings. The scenery you could see consisted of a bedroom, the mattress removed from it’s frame and thrown to the side with large scratch marks in it. Floorboards a splintering wood, the wallpaper was old and faded, curling or ripped in more places than one. With a singular clear doorway as a visible exit, you shook yourself of sleep and attempted to stand, only to be met with a tug at your wrists.

A simple, muffled noise meant to represent confusion left your throat as you pulled your arm forward, noticing then that something was holding you to the wall behind your back. Sight obscured by whatever occupied your head left you unable to tell what was tethering you, alongside being unable to get your hands free due to the uncomfortable cloth holding them in place. An attempt at a yell was met only with dull, mumbled sounds that could barely be called speaking, and you found yourself hit with realization. Who or whatever had brought you to this unfamiliar place wanted you dead, with little to no witnesses.

Fight or flight response activating, you tried to untangle yourself, not knowing if or when your captor would return to end your life. Jerking your arm upwards, you attempted at freeing your hands, crying out in pain as you felt a burning sensation begin to rub at your skin. The feeling was aggravating to your wrists at the least, and if you continued, you’d end up rubbing them raw. Your eyes darted wall to wall in efforts to understand what was going on, frantically searching for anything quickly becoming your best bet for survival.

After minutes that felt like hours of trying to free your hands, the sound of something loud passed through a window over your head. It resembled the noise a car engine makes upon starting up, and was followed by loud footsteps running away from it. And although you were happy to hear some proof of there being other life around you, the joy was short-lived. Why? Well, because shortly after the noise stopped, there was a beeping coming from the contraption upon your head. Slow, even sounds began ticking away, and though you had no idea what that meant, you knew it couldn’t be anything good.

Calling out through the machine that covered your mouth, you began to beg for your life. You weren’t ready to die, there was still so much to do, so many efforts to live for even on the darkest days of your existence. Hot tears pooled in your eyes and spilled over as you continued wiggling in place, now more panicked than ever. Without even the slightest idea of where you were, you cried into the night like a scared, lonely puppy. One whose head was going to kill them if they didn’t get someone to help them out of what was on it.

The sense of hopelessness in your chest quickly began to fade as you heard the sound of a door open, followed by footsteps of an unknown origin. Beginning your previous choir of muffled yells, you prayed for someone to get you out of whatever forsaken place you were in and stop the beeping in your ear. When the sound of shoes against wood stopped, you let out a painful cry. Water falling down your skin, all you could do was hope you weren’t abandoned; left to die a painful death that you couldn’t even try to rid yourself of. Your sobs a lonely whimper in the cold black air, you begged not to be left alone while tears clouded your vision before trickling down your face.

When you heard the steps come towards the room you were in, all you could do was lean forward and look. Met with the face of a young man you had never seen before, you whined through your mask, watching as he sprinted to your side. His hair was black and scruffy, long strands that clearly hadn’t been cut in a while despite his face being clean shaven—a man clearly of Asian descent. Around his neck was a dirtied, beige scarf, and his body was covered with a faded green jacket which bent around his brown pants as he kneeled beside you. With you whimpering all the way, eventually the man stopped to place a finger to his lips, his free hand still holding onto your restraints.

“If you’re too loud, she’ll find you,” he warned, moving to pull away your bound wrists before watching your hands fly to your face.

Standing up, you felt your nails scratch metal as you tried to understand what sort of contraption was upon you. From your frantic searching, you found a padlock tied to the back of the headgear, alongside something glass attached to the side. Waterworks of concern ran down your cheeks as you tried to pull it off, only to feel a pain in your mouth which was caught in your throat as a yell. The man made his way up to you, placing his hands at either side of your head to get your attention.

“This thing on your head,” he began, “is called a ‘Reverse Bear Trap’. And if you don’t get it off yourself in time, the jaws of that trap are gonna split right open and tear the inside of your mouth from your head, understand?”

You nodded as your shoulders shook and goosebumps travelled along your skin. The thought of having your mouth ripped open in such a deadly way made you sick, as well as fearful towards this upcoming doom. But you knew that if you panicked, the situation would only get worse. Trying to stay calm, you put your hands over the front of the Reverse Bear Trap, attempting to see if there was some way to get it off your head. However, the strange man before you quickly pulled your hands away.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Trust me, I’ve tampered with those things before, and it didn’t turn out so pretty.”

Although his warning was an act of kindness, you couldn’t help but acknowledge the fear that crept in your stomach growing like moss on a wet rock. This stranger was here to help, not hurt you, but the fear that lurked just in front of your mouth made you want to collapse and let whatever happens happen. This guy was more determined than that, though, and wouldn’t let you give up so easily. How could you tell? Well, usually someone who wants you dead doesn’t go through the trouble of trying to comfort you in the middle of your life-and-death situation.

Leaning over to cup his hand against your cheek and brush the tears away from your face, the mysterious man soothed you patiently. He knew how hard it could be to save your own life, unable to blame anyone but yourself for your own actions. Calming you down with a few gentle hushes, slowly you found yourself coming back to reality alongside the unavoidable gravity of the situation. With only a certain amount of time to live and no excuses for failure, it was time to pick yourself up and prepare yourself mentally.

The man seemed pleased with noticing you become more resolute in your goal, despite the way you shook like a cold chihuahua. Although the moment was short lived, as a beeping filled the gap in sound, making you lift your fingers back to your face. Unable to ask questions, you motioned your hands quickly, hoping this stranger would somehow get the message that you didn’t understand how to free yourself. It took him a moment, but he was able to comprehend your actions and pull your wrist to himself in response.

“I know it might be hard to,” he started, helping you down the stairs quickly, “but you can see through that headset you got there, right?”

Nodding, you looked around yourself, reminding yourself to breathe and not hyperventilate every few moments. Guiding you out the front door and crouching behind a car, the rugged male took a moment to examine the area with a sense of purpose in his dark eyes. Despite being without the ability to ask questions, you silently pondered the circumstances of his need to stop moving so suddenly. While you were crouched down, he continued.

“You should be able to see the aura of these white boxes on stands. Can you see those?”

With an affirmative hum, you pointed towards the back of the house you had just been inside, trying to tell him that’s where the closest one was. Taking a moment, the man nodded and began walking with you in the direction of the box, stopping you as you attempted to run. About to question him, you noticed the stern look on his face.

“Don’t run unless you have to,” he ordered. “They can sense it when you’re running, and she’ll find you before you even have the chance to get that trap off your head, you understand?”

Upon seeing you give a nod, he continued pulling you along until you were right in front of the item in question. A large, white box with a red timer in front of it and a doll sitting on top. Needless to say, it made you feel incredibly anxious, as if that toy were ready to mock you as the machine on your head split your jaw from your skull. Glancing towards the man at your side, he motioned you towards it, watching as you shook your head in disapproval.

“The key you need to get the Reverse Bear Trap off is inside one of these boxes,” he explained, watching as your eyes went wide. “There’s about four boxes, but only one has the key. You gotta put your hands inside there—through the holes—and try to find a key attached to a wire. When you think you’ve found it, wrap your hand around it and pull, hard. If the wire breaks, you’ve got the key. If it doesn’t, and that doll starts laughing at’cha, you’ve got the wrong box. Got it?”

Looking between him and the box, the tears in your eyes reappeared. You understood that this was the only way to save your own life, and that time was quickly ticking down, but you were mortified. The stress was getting to you, making you feel weak in the knees as your palms grew warm and wet. How could you just do something like that without being afraid of harming yourself even more? Whimpering from behind the iron jaws of death, you motioned to the box in an attempt to tell him you couldn’t do it. This was too much for you, it risked so much just for you to end up weaseling your way back to life.

Reaching towards you with gloved hands, the man brushed tears from your eyelashes quickly. “Hey, hey, I know it’s scary—I know you’re scared. But you can do it, I know you can. All it takes is a little patience and some willpower, and I know you’ve got plenty of both. I’ll be right here with you if something happens, okay? You got this.”

Blinking away the rest of your tears, you sniffled and slowly stepped towards the contraption of which possibly held the key to your freedom. The man moved his hands from your face to your back as you put one arm into an opening, and then the other. Moving your fingers slowly, you searched for a key as he instructed, feeling your finger prick itself against sharp razor wire. You twitched, holding in any noise of pain that wanted to leave you as you kept searching. The vastness of such a small compartment was a horrid kind of incredible, with needles and rusting metal that just begged you to cut yourself. The sense of it all was awful, and you had to wonder if this was the work of something truly human.

Your partner cheered you on softly from the sidelines, until you found what you were looking for and pulled at it. Wicked giggles left the wooden toy upon the box as you gazed up at it, trying to bite back your fear as the warning noise on your head got faster. Peeking towards the male beside you, there was nothing to say as he ushered you away from the compartment. The runniness of your nose returned and he was so sure you were going to begin crying, but you knew that now was not the time for tears. Instead, you pointed towards the next box you could see, ignoring the speed at which the alarm had jumped to.

Without so much as a nod, the survivor pulled you to your feet and rushed you over there, noting to stop running every few moments before you made it to your destination. Repeating your previous actions, you held in a cry as you scraped the side of your arm in an attempt to move your fingers through thin wires that coiled around them. It was almost as if inside this machine were snakes, ready to bite if you rubbed one the wrong way. The raven-haired male kept his eyes on you, making sure you weren’t in too much pain before the beeping sped itself up.

As you pulled out your arms and shook your head, he knew that you were simply trying to put on a brave face. For the only thing he could see behind the eyes held within the trap was pure, unbridled fear. In truth, he wasn’t sure why he was going through all this trouble of helping you. The man didn’t know you, and you didn’t know him, so why were either of you bothering? That was the question he should’ve been asking, but the only question he did ask was, “Where’s the next Jigsaw Box?”

Pointing your finger, the two of you took off in a sprint past a preschool before appearing beside the next compartment. By now, you were getting used to the feeling of scratching your fingers and trying to push past metal, and all you wanted was to get the job done thoroughly. Your only motivators being this man alongside the ticking timer that was placed upon your shoulders, you reached in for your objective, pulled the string quickly, and removed a key as your prize.

Tossing the key to the man, you turned around to let out a painful cry, knowing time was almost up. He fumbled for a moment as he turned the key around in his hands before putting it into the lock and twisting it. Grabbing hold of the top of the trap he proceeded to toss the contraption as far as he could until it landed with a solid thud against the earth. As the timer ran out and the Reverse Bear Trap ripped itself open, you found yourself gasping for air as if you had never breathed before. Your knees hit the grass as you coughed, taking in breath after breath while tears fell down your face. You were alive.

You had no idea how, but you were definitely alive. Moving you away from the open, the stranger guided you behind a fence, watching to make sure you were going to be alright. Covering your mouth with your cut hands, deep gasps of oxygen filled your lungs while you attempted to calm your beating heart. There was a moment where you didn’t know what to do now that you had found yourself intact, but that time quickly passed. Looking up to the man who stayed beside you, you smiled as sniffles filled your nose.

“Thank you…”

It was all you could say for now, but it was enough. For without whoever this person was, you still would’ve been stuck to a wall, sobbing as your head snapped open. But this person, who didn’t know you and could’ve left you for dead, came forth to save you, sticking with you until the very last second. The first thing you wanted to tell him was your gratitude, for being beside you despite the obvious danger of the situation. This man was your hero.

“Thank you,” you repeated, voice still soft and shaken. “You saved… My life.”

The man took a moment before replying, fixing the scarf upon his neck as he seemed to concoct an answer. But you let him take his time, and during that moment you attempted to guide yourself into breathing properly. Although the task was a little complicated, you soon found yourself able to relax, gazing at the man who helped you with a more stern gaze.

“Don’t worry about it,” he muttered, holding a hand out towards you. “I’m Jake Park. I don’t think we’ve met before.”

Shaking your head, you took his hand and replied, “No, I don’t think we have… I’m [Name] [Last Name].”

Tethering yourself to reality, you grasped Jake’s hand firmly, as if he was going to turn to dust. Relief swept through your body in a nervous rush, attempting to be positive about your own survival. Although you felt ready to drop down to the floor and pass out due to exhaustion, there was still no sign that you were completely safe, thus no time to take any risks. Instead, you latched onto Jake in an attempt to gain stability, still remembering how to retrieve your sea legs.

Soon, you were properly able to move and let go of your savior while testing your ability to walk. Riddled with joy, you smiled at this woodsland man, stepping to the side and properly looking around your environment. The place looked like a town, with houses and long-since used parked cars, while at the center was an old kindergarten, clearly abandoned; left to rot away. It was mostly quiet, aside from the few crows that cawed as they flew overhead and the wind which picked up the tree leaves.

But there was most definitely no sense of safety amongst the area. Replaced with an anxiety of unknown origin, the space cradled a darkness that was ready to stalk and hunt its unsuspecting prey. An aura of simple evil wished to bring fear upon you, eating away at the happiness you had gained. Though, it would take more than the simple feeling of fear to get you down now, after all that had happened. Not to mention, you had Jake here with you; a man who was born to survive.

Although, with a moment to take a clear look at your surroundings, it was easy to say you had absolutely no idea where you were. The environment was similar to a small town, yes, but you couldn’t recognize any features that matched the area you had grown up in. Even the air was different—a landscape covered in a thick layer of dying smoke. It was an unfamiliar place littered with dried blood and broken spirits, but was this even a real place that your killer had brought you? Where had you been taken to and how?

Sensing your confusion, the man at your side lightly tapped your shoulder to bring your attention to him.

“What’s the matter,” he asked, watching your face for any clues.

It took some time to think of a proper answer to his question, considering your mind was a flowing river of confusion headed straight to the ocean of concern. What exactly did you want to ask Jake? Would he even be willing to comply to the ever-growing list of questions that ran through your head? Every query you found lead to yet another, and all that left your mouth was a school of “um”s and “uh”s.

Soon you were able to conjure up a single thought that could be processed logically, sent out in the form of “What is this?”.

Jake—still rightfully confused—looked at you with worry as he pondered over your words. It was an odd way to put the inquiries in your mind, and truthfully, you weren’t sure if it really matched what you had wanted to tell him. The man beside you could even see how baffled you were by your own question, and gave you a moment to re-think it all. Without much of a wait, you brought yourself back to speaking.

“Where… Where are we? What’s going on, wh-why did I have that thing on my head? I just… I’m confused,” you explained, growing more worried for your safety by the second. “What… What _is_ all this?”

A soft hum left the survivalist as he guided you down the road, eventually pulling you to the side behind a tall hedge. Crouching down, Jake looked over the foliage to make sure the both of you were safe, not yet answering you. Peering out from behind leaves, you tried your hand at seeing what he could see, only to find his hand upon your shoulder as he motioned you to leave. Standing back up, he guided you off towards another house, though kept his eyes over his shoulder at every turn.

“The place we’re at right now,” he began, “is the Badham Preschool. It’s in Springwood, according to Quentin.”

“Quentin?”

Glancing back at you, Jake seemed somewhat amused by your almost endless curiosity. There was an arch in his brow but also the hint of a smirk at the corner of his lips, and yet he still appeared serious in some manner. It sort of made you intimidated, how he could seem so calm as well as feel playful about the manner both of you spoke. Though it ended up making you flustered, halfway tempted to defend yourself about interrupting him.

“Quentin Smith. He’s like us; a survivor. He seems to know this place, however, says he met the Nightmare here a long time ago.”

Taking a moment to put the names in your head, you found yourself glancing around towards the old kindergarten building. The broken swing set and odd heat that came from it’s windows made you feel incredibly uneasy, as if something awful happened there while continuing to linger from that day to this. Noticing your discomfort, Jake pulled you away from the view of the abandoned building and instead towards a rusted machine not too far from it. He bent down and reached over towards it carefully, pulling out some wires as you watched from beside him.

“What we’re supposed to be doing is fix these generators. When we fix five, we get to leave,” he went on, motioning you to help him. “It’s some kind of… Game, you could say. The people who were brought here are forced to fend for their lives by repairing these things before getting tossed onto a hook.”

“Hook,” you repeated, voice trailing at the end as you tried to process what that could mean. Quickly, you found yourself without any real leads and returned to trying to mend the generator you had been brought to.

“The weird thing is,” Jake continued, “I don’t know how you got that trap on your head. Normally she has to knock you down to put you in one of those things, but I didn’t hear you scream.”

Pulling another piece of machinery into place, you could feel the parts of your brain trying to figure out what was going on. It was all so confusing that at moment that you ended up pulling a wire too far from the generator, causing it to react explosively. Letting out a small yelp, you covered your eyes with your arm, making sure you hadn’t been blinded by the reaction. After the light died down you peered upon the metal, noticing that Jake had remained working away at the bits and pieces still in tact. Guilt washed over you and you immediately hung your head, not able to look him in the eye, which he quickly noticed.

“Hey, what’d you stop for? Everyone makes mistakes, you just need to keep working anyways.”

Running a hand through your hair, you reached back towards the generator and continued your previous progress. “I’m sorry, I just…”

Coming to an almost abrupt stop, you squinted at the sight you could’ve sworn you’d seen. Sitting up straighter to peer over the top of the machine, the image of something moving closer towards the two of you came into view. Every now and then it would duck and dodge into the bushes, but it certainly was making it’s way over to you and Jake. After a moment, the survivalist caught wind of your slowed progress, giving you a confused look before speaking up.

“What’s wrong,” he asked, keeping his gaze on you rather than following your stare.

Reaching up to point just behind him, you found yourself looking confusedly at what appeared to be human and yet so vastly different.

“What is _that_?”

The moment Jake turned to peer over his shoulder, an animalistic growl similar to a lion left the approaching figure as it charged towards the two of you. Although it took the shape of a human—one who was rather short—it carried a blade concealed in it’s long red jacket. And upon its head was that of a pig; whether it was real or fake, you couldn’t tell, though human-like hair stemmed from it’s scalp and fell down to this person’s shoulders.

Paralyzed with fear, it took Jake yelling “Run!” for you to realize you were in danger. Grabbing your hand, the survivor quickly began to make his way towards the deserted kindergarten, taking deep breaths as he went. Glancing over your shoulder, you caught the being staring, following after you with a desire to kill. You could unconsciously feel your grip on Jake’s hand tighten.

With a sharp turn into the old building, the resilient man pulled you down a set of stairs before slowing down and crouching as he made it to a strange inlet in the underground area. Giving a cautious look around, you noticed an old mattress clearly worse for wear, alongside several strange drawings that looked as though children had created them. Despite how uncomfortable they made you, the heartbeat banging in your ears kept you from worrying too much about what you could see. Instead, you looked towards Jake in a panic.

“Why did we stop,” you asked, voice a whisper yell before he shushed you and motioned you close to a corner. There was no need to ask him what he was doing as he pressed you close to his chest, breathing softly as you heard footsteps make their way down the stairs.

Glancing towards the sound for just a moment, you saw the shadow of the monster you’d seen before, looking around itself carefully before heading back up the steps it had came down. Letting out gentle breaths, you waited until all was completely silent before trying to investigate more of your surroundings. However, Jake refused to let you leave his side, holding onto you tightly for a moment longer as his eyes travelled the ceiling. All you could do was watch him, and hope that whatever evil that was chasing you had left.

“Okay…” His voice was but a murmur, but once he spoke, his grip loosened. “I think she's gone now.”

Still scared and confused, you looked towards the stairs in a silent prayer she wouldn’t return. “What was that..? Who is she?”

“The Pig.”

Although his answer was clear and concise, you felt terror in the name alone. Now that there was a title to put to the creature hunting you, it almost made the situation worse. Taking a breath in to try and calm your nerves, you were sure to keep the name in your head for later. Next time, you’d try to remember exactly what she looked like compared to other survivors.

Before you could ask yet another question to the man who seemed to know all, you felt something wet press against your fingertips. The sensation was enough to make you pull back your hand and look upon your skin, only to notice they had been dyed with a sharp maroon substance. That’s when you looked to Jake, and noticed the exact position he was in; arm over his waist with his scarf partially shoved into his mouth. His teeth grit into the fabric as he held in any sound of weakness, but his expression contorted to show incredible pain.

“Jake, you… You’re hurt,” you realized, moving back just a bit to examine his injury. “When did you get hurt, I-I didn’t even hear you cry out in pain!”

The survivalist simply chuckled, letting his scarf fall out of his mouth before he spoke. “I’ve got an iron will and a calm spirit,” he replied, moving to pick himself up. “For now, we have to finish up this generator.”

Not a moment passed before you grabbed Jake’s arm and pulled him back to where he had previously sat, hearing him grunt softly in response to the sudden movement.

“No,” you snapped, staring at him seriously. “You’re hurt, and it’s my fault, you need to get patched up.”

He gave you a small glare, then shook his head. “It wasn’t your fault, I was the one who got too careless and—”

“No!”

With a sudden burst of noise, you moved to stand in front the male in question, staring at the floor in disappointment. The fact that you were there, with him, when the Pig arrived and took a stab into his skin showed just how negligent _you_ were being. It wasn’t fair to him, and you knew it. Jake had been by your side, helped you escape death, and now he had gotten hurt, with you completely oblivious to the situation.

Perhaps that’s why you were so upset. This whole time, you were relying on him to keep you from danger, and you hadn’t even thought of his own safety. You were ashamed by that realization; he was putting himself in harm's way just for you, yet you had done nothing to return the favor. And now that fact was being rubbed in your face, as Jake hunched over in pain with his left arm holding onto his side, trying to stop the blood that dripped down his dirtied jacket. In exchange for your safety, he got himself injured.

“This _is_ my fault. You wouldn’t have gotten hurt if I had just, just been more helpful and careful! You’ve been keeping me safe this whole time, and now you’ve got a cut through your side! I can’t just ignore that! I can’t ignore the fact that my carelessness and confusion got you hurt, Jake!”

Silence swept through the area as you spoke to the survivalist, his gaze falling upon your saddened form. The hurt in your eyes spoke a thousand words of worry to him, but he could feel his heart breaking as you dropped to your knees and reached a hand towards his injury. Moving his arm back slowly, he couldn’t make your gaze as you stared at the knife-inflicted gash. Hands falling to his sides, he took slow, careful breaths while you looked about curiously. As he was about to question you, you spoke up.

“Stay here,” you ordered. “I’m gonna go find something to help clean your wound, okay? I’ll be right back.”

“No.” Jake’s voice was pained as he reached out towards you in an attempt to keep you from leaving. “It’s not safe, you could get hurt. Just stay here, I’ll be fine.”

His aim to keep you by his side was short-lived, however, as he bit once more into his scarf to hold in a groan of pain sent from his injury. Assuring him you’d return soon, the man laid against the wall, watching you nervously. With nothing holding you back, you turned on your heel and walked around the warm environment, searching for something to help your hurting friend.

It wasn’t long until you noticed a set of vermillion, wooden stairs going even further down into the ground than you already were. Anxiously, you took a step forward, keeping a goal on the objective; finding something to help Jake with. The smell of iron and death hit you like a bullet train, and your hand flew to your mouth in an attempt to keep you from gagging. Four meat hooks dangled back to back from one another while blood seemed to leak from the floor itself as putrid air reached forth with a desire to choke you. And yet still, it felt as though the horror was beckoning you, telling you to come forward despite it’s terrible appearance.

Taking a cautious step onward, you found your curious gaze peeking behind corners for any sign of something useful. Thankfully, you didn’t have to look long, as a light brown, wooden box laid hidden beside what looked like a red, metal locker. Bending down quickly, you removed the latch and pulled up at the lid of the chest, letting out a breath of air as you got it open. With items scattered about everywhere, you tried to find what you were looking for without making too much of a mess or alerting a certain someone to your position. Tossing out each object you thought to be helpful, you found yourself with all the pieces to put together a pretty efficient med-kit, including a little bag to put it all in. You were halfway-tempted to cheer about your resourcefulness, but instead you kept your eyes on the prize of tending to Jake.

Removing your newfound first-aid bag alongside yourself from the basement, you were returned to the heat of Badham after rushing up the stairs that lured you down in the first place. The raven-haired male remained sat where he was before, seemingly relieved to know you were alright as his eyes lit up. Shuffling back against the wall, he examined you carefully, checking for any injury of your own. Grabbing his attention with the sound of a zipper, you took out what you found in the chest and spoke.

“I’m not really good at first-aid, but I found some things that might help,” you informed him, moving one hand to nudge his arm out of the way of his gash. “So please, tell me if I’m hurting you, okay?”

“Yeah… You got it.”

With his signal of approval, you removed a sponge you had found to catch the blood leaking from his skin. Every few moments of gently placing the swab against the wound, you would look up towards his face to make sure there was no pain in his eyes, just incase he had decided to keep from telling you when he was hurt. Jake seemed very calm, though, and would simply nod as a sign to keep tending to him.

After ripping some gauze from its roll as well as instructing the male before you to hold it in place, you quickly enveloped his stomach in adherent-wrap and called an end to your care. The male before you quickly tested your handiwork by standing up and stretching a bit, deeming himself no worse for wear. You, however, quickly stepped forward to him and placed your hand against where his wound once was, staring at the spot with a certain look in your eyes.

“Don’t you ever… _Ever_ hide your injuries from me again, do you hear me?”

Jake stood still while glancing upon your face, noticing the unreadable expression laid out upon it. Words caught in his throat as your eyebrows knit together, unable to tell just exactly why you cared about his safety so much. Hell, he couldn’t even understand why he wanted _you_ to get out of here just as badly. It was all so complicated for him to try and comprehend, and all he could do was watch you focus upon the injury he had gained.

“I won’t,” he replied, letting out a gentle breath upon speaking. “I’m sorry.”

Reaching over to take your hand in his own, the taller male brought you back to the side of the generator. His heart held within it a guilt now, one that he was unsure of how to get rid of. Though for the moment, he kept you as close as possible while fixing the machine in front of him, refusing to let you come to any harm. Meanwhile, you tried very carefully to copy the work that Jake performed, taking every few moments to stop and make sure you weren’t ruining what he had completed.

Jake’s voice broke through the silence between you two as he spoke up, asking, “How did you get here?”

It took you a moment to think of a proper response to his question, as in fact your memories were still incredibly blurry. Leaning forward to peek through a gap in the machinery, you found your voice rising gently against the workplace.

“I can’t really remember,” you replied. “What I do remember… Was being at home.”

Brown eyes flicked towards you in an attempt to read your mind, but were met with only confusion and intrigue. Removing a hand from the generator, you brushed back a piece of hair that had begun to mess with your focus and ran your mind in an attempt to recall your past. Most of it was littered amongst the fog outside, but you did as best you could to answer his question.

“I was at home and… Someone knocked at my door. I didn’t know who it was; they wouldn’t tell me their name when I asked. I can’t remember if I opened it or not, I just remember being scared, not knowing what to do. Then it, it got really cold, really fast. I could see the veins in my hands and there was… Fog. Then it was dark, and I woke up where you found me, with that trap on my head.”

“I see,” Jake muttered, looking down at the wires in his hands.

Feeling brave, you decided to ask him the same question he asked you.

“How about you? How did you get here, Jake?”

Carefully connecting the metal pieces together, the man beside you kept his head down, as if disappointed in himself. You were free of judgement, though, and kept from repeating the question in case he was made uncomfortable by it all. Soon, his smooth tone returned to the air around you as he replied.

“I ran away from home,” he admit, letting out a sigh as he looked back at his past. “My father was the CEO for a company I couldn’t bother to remember, and I grew up incredibly wealthy. I was supposed to inherit his fortune and take over for him, but I couldn’t do it. There was so much… So much pressure on me just to reach what platform he had gotten himself up to—I couldn’t do it. So I took off, decided to live in the woods, and one day a fog rolled in when I was looking for my next meal. Everything went dark, and when I woke up, I was in the middle of a place I didn’t know, fighting for my life.”

Quiet settled between the two of you but was soon replaced with the familiar hum of an engine sparking to life, alongside what sounded like an alarm that played overhead. With your wrist in his hand, Jake brought you back towards the stairs you had both descended, he informed you that that particular noise meant it was time for the both of you to leave. Although now you knew of there being a greater evil that lurked behind the corners waiting for the moment to end your life, it felt as though the hope in your heart pushed you forward to accomplish your goal of simply being alive. That didn’t simply ignore the fact that you were scared, put merely placed it aside for you to worry about later. A part of you hoped that the man beside you felt the same way, and that you simply weren’t being a coward.

While the survivalist muttered to himself about finding the exits, you checked over your shoulder every moment you had, unable to keep yourself from feeling eyes upon you. Moments would pass where you could feel yourself reaching for Jake’s jacket, attempting to tether your worries to something other than yourself. You were just so positive that you were being followed, that _something_ was out there ready to rip you limb from limb. The thought made you shake slightly, and the male beside you glanced over to make sure you were alright. And although he noticed the fear in your eyes, he kept pushing forward to make sure you could get out fast.

After a moment of walking, you noticed a figure hunched over in front of a brick wall and immediately leaned over towards Jake to let him know you were worried. It didn’t last long, though, as he reached out to you and gave a knowing look.

“It’s okay,” he assured, bringing you closer towards the figure, who noticed your presence. “This is Nea, she's a survivor, like us.”

Upon presumably hearing her name, the girl named Nea let go of the latch she had been holding onto in exchange for coming forward towards the both of you. Atop her head was a gray, faded beanie that hid her hair, which had been cut on one side to make it fall to the other. Her skin was noticeably pale, and she was dressed in a pink flannel with a blue shirt underneath, and a pair of black jeans with holes in them.

Despite her outward, tomboyish appearance, the lass seemed happy to notice the two of you safe and sound, showed by the grin upon her face. Motioning you forward, Nea returned to her spot by the strange wall, with her free hand against it. Keeping Jake at your side, you walked close to her, watching as she looked you up and down with her icy blue eyes. The urban survivor gave the man beside you a nod before coming closer to you and chuckling.

“So this was our number four,” she said, her Swedish accent present but still understandable. “I thought that it was just the three of us, Jake, Quentin and I. Where did you find them?”

Jake moved to hold your hand when questioned, as if letting you know everything was going to be okay. “In a house, tied to the window, with a Reverse Bear Trap on their head.”

This statement made Nea raise her brow at the both of you, crossing her arms in a natural response to her confusion. She moved to speak before closing her mouth, then looking between yourself and Jake in a method of trying to detect a lie. It didn’t take her long to notice there was no malice in your eyes and there was honesty in the survivalist’s tone, so she had no reason to believe you weren’t telling the truth. All she could do was shrug afterwards, and reach back towards a lever attached to what looked like a compartment on the wall.

“Well,” she started, giving a grunt as she pulled the handle down, “I’m Nea Karlsson. Nice t’meetcha.”

“This is called the Exit Gate,” Jake began to explain, his voice just above a whisper. “That switch box going to open these doors here, and then we’re free to go.”

Hearing those words brought happiness to your heart. It wasn’t long until you put two and two together, realizing that the generators must’ve been what was powering this escape for you to leave through, thus their importance. At first, you really didn’t understand why Jake had been taking you to all these different places with the dead machines begging for life, but now you were glad to have listened. Had you not been fearing for your life that whole time, the situation may have been different.

With her hand firmly in place against the handle to your freedom, Nea kept her eyes forward to watch how much time was left. Soon a blaring noise came from the small machine as the three lights atop it turned red and gears could be heard turning. Unable to contain your excitement you began bouncing on your heels, looking towards Nea, then the doors, and then Jake. It was all so close, you could practically taste the freedom on your tongue.

Wait… No, that wasn’t freedom you could taste. It was iron.

For the single span of a moment, the world stopped spinning and pain spread like a raging fire from your side. All you could do was bring yourself to just look down, and peer at what had been going through the side of your stomach. That’s when you noticed the tip of a silver blade sticking out on one end of your skin, and beginning on the other. You lurched forward slightly as that sharpened knife retracted from your body, only to put your hands over the wound and notice the blood that laced over them.

“No One Escapes Death…”

Nea’s voice was soft, but you heard the words clearly as your knees hit the ground. The sound of doors opening in front of you was loud and you could see a glowing exit, but your surroundings were covered in a blur. Noisy tones filtered over you as footsteps left in a path, but their words were lost amongst the heartbeat that banged in your chest. All you knew was the pain in your body as laid upon the earth, trying to hold onto yourself as blood spilled from your newly inflicted gash.

After the sounds had died down, you heard a set of hurried movements come towards you before a familiar face came into view. Jake carefully lifted your head up onto his lap and spoke words of comfort to you, but you couldn’t put exactly what he had said into sentences. Instead, you looked at him and smiled, happy to see him at your side once again. Though, within a few moments, you felt your cold body lift off the ground and be moved towards what you hoped was a happy dream. For now, your vision returned to a friendly shade of darkness.

 

“No, I’m being completely honest! No lie!” Nea proclaimed, her arms motioning about to the people of the campfire. “They was there—they were totally real!”

“Give it a rest, Nea, you’ve got no evidence to back that up.”

Laurie Strode, who had no time for games or any assumptions, continued to deny the existence of there ever being another survivor who had been in the previous trial. With arms crossed and her green-eyed gaze remaining completely unamused, she stood up by the fire while looking around, as if being watched. There were too many things that she couldn’t deny or accept about there being someone new, and unless she saw it for herself, it didn’t happen.

“You’re gonna give Laurie a headache,” Meg added, stretching her legs out before continuing. “And then she's gonna be mad.”

“Not you too, Meg!” The Swedish girl groaned and fixed her flannel shirt, looking around to each person who sat beside her. “Jake, Quentin, you were there too! You saw them, right? They were real!”

Although she tried to speak with the dreamwalker, the poor boy was already dozing off, drifting in and out of reality. Neither shaking nor yelling seemed to pull him out of his sleepy state, as he was entirely out of energy to pay attention. That didn’t stop her, though, as Karlsson was intent on proving that you _did_ exist to everyone else.

“Come on, sleeping beauty, get up! Jake, back me up here!”

Ever since the return to the bonfire, the survivalist had not said a word. His eyes focused solely on the glowing flame that forever blazed in this so-called sanctuary, while his hands fumbled over one another. Images of you and what you had done to help him spread over his mind as he considered what was real alongside what was fake. The sound of his name pulled him forth to the conversation, however, as Kate attempted to peacefully get Nea off Quentin to let him rest.

He remembered it all so vividly. Once he had hidden away from the murderous Pig who harmed you, the first thing he did was come rushing back to your side with worry. You were laying there, on your stomach, making no noise as you looked upon your bloodied hands and the environment around you. For a moment he thought he was too late, that you had bled out before he could come save you, but he took a chance and went to your side.

The one thing Jake remembered the most was the blood. As he moved to place your head upon his lap and flip you onto your back, he had noticed the bleeding that left your injury. There was so much, so much more than would normally leave a survivor when in the Entity’s realm. After all, the being didn’t wish to end you, it wished to have you sacrificed, and would give the killers as much time as possible to do so.

But this was different. Instead of slight amounts of blood, what he saw was moderate amounts dripping down your sides onto the concrete floor of the exit gate. A single hit had brought you to the brink of death, and he couldn’t understand why. All he could do in that moment was tell you it was going to be okay, that he was going to get you out of there safe and sound. That was when he picked you up and carried you to the exit, only to find you gone from his arms when you returned.

As the bickering between artist, songbird and dreamwalker continued, Jake could find himself growing more and more annoyed. How could they not realize that you weren’t some apparition in his mind, that you _still_ weren’t back, even though everyone else was done with their trials? It wasn’t fair, and he knew it, he knew that you were out there waiting and he had to find you. Where were you hiding?

“They were real.”

An uneasy quite settled against the land between the survivors, and attention was placed upon the Asian-American man as he spoke.

“They were real. I was with them, they helped me. They cared for me. I remember.”

Hands clenched into fists and his eyes focusing upon the orange embers that flickered from the fire’s light, Jake could feel himself growing with sorrow. Where were you? Why hadn’t you returned like all the others? Images of horrible fates came forth to him as he hunched forward, eyebrows knitting together.

“They were incredible, sweet and scared, but still brave enough to help me. They were _real_ , don’t try and tell me they weren’t, they were real!”

His voice raised and caught over the treetops, startling a few crows that came to pass by. It wasn’t long until complete silence filled the air and Jake looked down at his fingers, opening them from their previously closed state to stare at his palms.

“I held them. I held them while they were bleeding. I brought them out that exit with my own _two_ hands.”

“What was their name?”

Bill pressed his cigarette between his lips, glancing back towards Jake with a knowing look in his eyes. The man who had been through it all, he broke the emptiness and the heartache with a few simple words. Nothing could shake him, and now he knew that someone was suffering the same way he had way back when.

“If you can remember their name, they were real,” he said, taking a puff of smoke out his mouth. “If y’can’t, they were a figment of your imagination.”

That was when Quentin woke up, stirring as Nea detached her arm from his side. His eyes opened slowly while he moved and looked around himself, shaking slightly. It was a rare occurrence for him to wake up on his own after falling asleep so sudden and deeply, especially after a trial.

“Something’s wrong,” he mumbled, rubbing the sleep away from his face as he glanced about himself. “Something’s going on…”

Before anyone could say anything to the tired boy, Jake felt an incredible heat in his chest, like lightning had struck him and left amber flames residing by his collarbone. Pressing his hands against where his breastplate was, deep breaths left him as if hit with the inability to inhale normally. Eyes darting from one place to another, he tried to calm himself, but his heartbeat picked up to speeds that he was only used to when killers stalked by him. Claudette quickly left her seat by the campfire to place her hand against his back, but Quentin stood up suddenly and pulled her away.

Catching her words with his own, the dreamwalker looked at Jake cautiously. “Don’t touch him… Something’s happening…”

Warm, glowing balls of light rose from the survivalist’s chest after a short moment, alongside the familiar black smoke that would surround survivors when being pulled into a trial. However, there was no pain from this experience, just a strange tingling that stemmed from his center. Lifting his hands up towards where the bright figures floated, Jake found his eyes glancing back and forth among them all, in awe as he stared. Breath held in for a moment, he could’ve sworn there was the shape of someone settling themselves along him, but he couldn’t see who.

 _Their name,_  he wondered, looking towards the luster that rose from his skin into the space around him. Somehow held upon the tip of his tongue, words couldn’t be placed into sentences as they were lost amongst the wonder within his mind. The uncomfortable pain had left his being as he reached forward, trying to grasp onto a presence that wasn’t quite beside him. As confused as he was, he knew your name. It was something that he had promised himself never to forget after seeing you for the first time.

“Their name was—”

 

Darkness. The shadows of the night and the burning feeling of embers in a tired, dying flame. It was an unrecognizable place, one that showed it’s dominance in this nightmarish dreamscape of which provided no seeable exit. A harsh environment that yearned to fill you with dread and rip you to pieces the moment you opened your eyes and looked at it’s horrid face. But this time, you couldn’t bring yourself to be afraid of such a place.

This time, you noticed a single, orange flame that illuminated the shadows bound your limbs and heart, one that called for a new home and a new beginning. Offering you love and safety, you knew the malice within this little flame, but you also understood the hope that it provided alongside that. And although the flame was tiny, it seemed as though it was willing to grow, you burn brighter so long as you chose the destiny it should lead to. And so, with nothing stopping you, you reached out a hand and clasped your fist around the ember, ready to begin life as something you truly wished to be.

 

Within the span of a single moment, mist and heat combined to place you in Jake’s arms, forehead against his while your clothes fluttered in the wind. Legs settled against his lap, there was no denying the heart melting smile that stretched across his tanned face. His own larger hand found itself against the small of your back while you looked into his eyes, your palms pressed along his chest. Soon the warm breeze that ran through the area settled against the two of you, embers between the both of you dissipating into the night sky.

“[Name].”

Shock hit the survivors with the underside of it’s hand, but Jake could care less about their stares as the grin on his face never faltered. Reaching up to brush hair from your face, you couldn’t help but feel embarrassed by the closeness between the two of you. Heartbeat casting a familiar rhythm in your ears, all you could do was smile at the male holding you within his arms.

Soon, the moment was broken as Nea jumped to her feet and began shaking Bill, who’s cigarette had fallen out his mouth in surprise. While she cheered out loudly about how “she knew it,” Quentin simply smiled while letting out a yawn beside Claudette, who was too startled to move. Laurie looked to Dwight for explanation, but all the leader could do was shake his head as if to say he couldn’t give her a reason why you had suddenly appeared. Meanwhile, Ace was laughing so hard he could barely breathe, as Adam sat next to him in such extreme confusion you could almost see the numbers in his head try to make sense of the situation.

Your attention wasn’t to stray for long, as Jake shifted in a subtle attempt to gain back your stare. Upon looking at him, the survivalist cupped your cheek in his hand, unable to speak but clearly wanting you to focus on him for the time being. It was only fair, after all, you _did_ disappear from him so suddenly. For now, he wanted you to himself or at least for you to pay him some mind since your sudden vanishing in his arms. And soon, it became obvious he wanted to spend some time with you by himself, as his little glances away from you became apparent stares.

With the distraction of your sudden arrival taking hold of the rest of the crowd, the survivalist picked you up in his arms and began to carry you towards a more wooded area of the clearing, past the tents they all slept in. Although you wanted to tell him you could walk just fine, he seemed happy carrying you and you couldn’t bring yourself to deny him of the smile upon his face. You weren’t kept in his arms for too long, though, as he set you down in another, different area that was without trees, but also without any pesky survivors to get in his way.

Sitting beside you, Jake pulled you towards his chest so that he could hold you better. Letting him do as he pleased, you smiled and made yourself comfortable, wrapping your own arms around him. Soon you could feel his nose nuzzling against your exposed skin, while his slightly disheveled hair tickled your jaw. A gentle laugh left your system as he continued to cuddle with you, but you couldn’t help feeling a little shy. No one had ever really been this touchy with you, but when it came to Jake, it just felt right.

“Jake, what’re you—”

“I want to kiss you,” he announced, unable to help his loving stare as he pulled away to look over you.

Embarrassment soon settled in after he heard himself speak, but he didn’t quite take back his claim. Instead, he reached for your hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, smiling down at it as if to hide the nervousness in his eyes. It was completely clear that he hadn’t been in a relationship before, much less knew how to tell someone how he felt without simply stating it. Part of that was endearing, another part made you feel like a total mess.

“That sounded a lot less weird in my head,” Jake mumbled, chuckling nervously before speaking once again. “But it’s true, if I’m being honest. I want to kiss you, I want to make you happy. I really want to show you how much I care about you.”

Awkwardly looking away, you ran a hand through your hair and asked, “How long was I gone, Jake?”

“Too long. Long enough for me to realize just how badly I need you in my life.”

Unable to hide your face as it began to grow warmer, all you could do was look into Jake’s dark eyes as he carefully examined you. It wasn’t long until he wrapped you in his arms via hug, which you reciprocated after a short moment. Strands of his choppy black hair fell into your face and you could smell the forest in his jacket, despite the way it lightly scratched at your skin.

“I’ve never been good with talking about… How I feel, I guess,” Jake admit, refusing to let go of you. “But there’s something different about you, about the way you act around me and how you look at me… My heart, it ached so badly when I was without you, not knowing if or when you were coming back. And I’ve never felt like that before, ever. Even now, I, I don’t know how to explain just how much you mean to me. It almost feels like fate, as cheesy as I know that sounds.”

With Jake still refusing to let go, all you could do was listen to the shakiness in his breath as he held onto you. It didn’t take long to realize why he had become so clingy, due to the fact he didn’t know if you would suddenly leave him again. He felt as though he had failed you when you fell to the floor in pain, and now he never wanted to see that happen once more. So instead, he kept himself attached to you in order to keep you safe, to show you just how much he wanted to stay beside you. This was what he knew.

“I love you.”

As simple as the words were, they impacted you in a way you didn’t know was possible. The little embers in your heart became a flame as your body grew warm, to the point where you no longer wanted to show your face to the man beside you. That didn’t last long, however, as he finally pulled himself away from you, only to meet you once again.

Placing his hand back against your cheek, Jake brought you into a kiss so sweet you could feel the incoming sugar rush. His lips, although chapped, were kind and caring, showing just how much he missed you with every single movement. With his free hand at your waist, he nudged his nose against yours, as if fanning the fire inside you to roar throughout your chest. And although he shortly tried to pull himself away from the affectionate gesture, you were quick to grab his scarf and pull him right back.

Moving your arms to wrap around his neck and play with the strands of his hair, you could hear the gentle hums of the survivalist from in-between his lips until that kiss was finally broken. The tanned skin along his cheeks had tinted a gentle red as he smiled at you, unable to contain the longing gaze in his eyes as he held you. You felt so small in his arms, but you knew he could give you the world if all you did was ask.

“I love you, [Name],” he repeated, placing his nose against yours.

“I love you too, Jake.”

**Author's Note:**

> OOOOH SHE LONG lets go gamers imma give some love to jake after like what a month and a half of not updating?
> 
> uuuuuh gimme some of them dbd characters to write that good lovin for, cause all i got rn is david


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